20 Things You Somehow Missed In Top Gun
8. Those MiG Jets... Aren't MiG Jets
Nobody expects Top Gun to be realistic. You go into this movie, knowing full-well the aircraft are going to perform manoeuvres that laugh in the face of physics.
However, one element you expect to be realistic is the jets themselves. Throughout the movie, the Topgun pilots fly jet fighters called MiG-28s. But unless you had a vast knowledge of naval aviation, you probably didn't realise this aircraft doesn't exist! All the MiG-28s in the film are actually Northrop F-5Fs painted black. The vehicle was used extensively by Topgun pilots during the 1980s and are currently used as adversary trainers.
Because the script called for the jet fighter to perform impossible manoeuvres, it made sense to incorporate a fictional vehicle that could execute these techniques.